At the 2002 Annual Geological Society
of America meeting in Denver, Paul Harnik (Paleontological Research
Institution; pgh3@cornell.edu) and Robert Ross (Paleontological Research
Institution; rmr16@cornell.edu) will convene the following National
Association of Geoscience Teachers-sponsored topical session:
Title: Geoscience Research Partnerships as a Strategy for Engaging K-16
Students and Teachers in Inquiry-Based Learning (Topical Session
T39)
Session Description:
Involving
K-16 students and teachers in authentic scientific research can benefit
both scientific and education communities: students and teachers get a
chance to experience science first hand, and researchers are able to
collect larger quantities of data than previously possible. The
geosciences are ideal for such partnerships, as they capture the public
imagination daily (as reflected in popular media), and many fundamental
research questions remain unanswered due to the sheer magnitude of human
labor that is involved to gather and synthesize the necessary data.
Involving students in research is not a new idea, but has traditionally
been employed only with upper-level undergraduate majors and select
groups of high-achieving high school students. Integrating research and
education in less traditional settings such as introductory undergraduate
classes, courses for non-majors, and pre-college classrooms has recently
begun to increase in frequency. While the number of partnerships
between K-16 students, teachers, and geoscientists grows, issues of
educational assessment and data quality are paramount for documenting the
impact research partnerships can have on either educational reform or
scientific research.
Volunteered abstracts on projects in any phase of development are welcome additions to this session, with particular interest in issues of data quality and learning assessment.
Please contact either of us if you have any questions or suggestions. The deadlines for abstract submission (http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2002/) is July 16 (electronic). We look forward to an engaging dialogue in Denver on the challenges and benefits of these research and education partnerships.
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Paul G. Harnik
Educator
Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
ph: 607 273 6623 x22
email: pgh3@cornell.edu
web:
www.priweb.org